Psaki doubles down to justify Biden’s incendiary MAGA smear: I expect you’ll hear more of this rhetoric

Wednesday was a tough day for White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Not only did she have to explain President Joe Biden’s “abort a child” gaffe to a persistent Peter Doocy, but Psaki was also forced to try and defend to no fewer than three reporters Biden’s inflammatory claims that the “MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history.”

As BizPac Review reported, during a Q&A Wednesday morning regarding a leaked opinion draft from the Supreme Court that indicates SCOTUS will likely reverse its 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade, Biden bizarrely suggested that the conservative-leaning court could next rule that LGBTQ kids can’t be in class with other children before slamming those who voted for Trump as “extreme.”

“What happens if you have states change the law saying that children who are LGBTQ children can’t be in classrooms with other children?” Biden asked. “Is that legit under the way the decision’s written?”

“Because,” Biden continued, “this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history.”

Even CNN was taken aback.

In the press briefing later that day, CNN White House corresponded Kaitlan Collins wondered if this was the kind of messaging we can expect heading into the midterms.

“Today, the President was sharply critical of the MAGA crowd and the MAGA agenda,” Collins noted. “Is that what we should expect to be his message going into the midterms?”

The eventual answer was, “Yes,” but it took Psaki a while to get there.

 

“Well, I think, for those of you who’ve been covering him for some time, you’ve heard him say — and maybe back more to the campaign trail, less as President — ‘Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.’ And I would expect you will hear him with that mantra much more out there over the next coming months.”

Psaki stated the president “has been struck” by “the MAGA direction of some in the Republican Party. And he’s been struck by the hold his predecessor seems to have on far too many members — not all, but far too many members of the party.”

Psaki then described those who are against killing babies and talking to third-graders about a rainbow of sexual identities as “antics.”

“And what we’re seeing — the latest antics are — made clear that they are at war with Mickey Mouse, they’re against allowing women to make choices about their own healthcare, against lowering the cost of prescription drugs. And if that remains their platform, the President’s view is: That is out of whack with the mainstream of the country,” Psaki said.

After mischaracterizing everything conservatives believe in, Psaki then said that Biden has “always believed in working with Republicans in good faith and finding ways to do that.”

“And he will continue to do that,” Psaki continued, “but he is going to also call out — and you will see him call out more — places where he feels there are extreme policies and extreme comments and extreme positions that are, unfortunately, overtaking far too much of the party.”

In a follow-up question, Collins asked about both Biden and Psaki referring to former President Donald Trump as Biden’s “predecessor” rather than by name.

“He did not say ‘Trump,'” Collins said of Biden’s comments. “He said ‘MAGA’ instead of ‘Trump.’ Is that deliberate?”

“Well, as far as I know, he’s not on the ballot,” Psaki retorted. “A number of his– of Republicans who have seemed to be under the whim of his predecessor are, so that’s who he’s going to focus his efforts on.”

When asked by another reporter if Biden views the notion of  Republican successes in the midterms as the potential for “Trump gaining more control over the Senate and the process for potentially what happens two years from now,” Psaki dodged the question and, instead, again launched into a critique of “extreme” Republicans, repeating much of what she said to Collins.

 

But it was AFP White House correspondent Sebastian Smith who noted that the “MAGA crowd” represents “almost half the people who voted in 2020.”

“Does the president feel he could’ve done more early on to reach out to those people?” Smith asked. “And does [this] … signal… there’s no going back now?”

“I think… the president will be judged by Americans by his actions and what he does to make their lives better,” Psaki replied.

Melissa Fine

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